Contents

Early life and education[edit]

Barnes was born in London, to Tricia, a relationship therapist, and Thomas Barnes, a professor of psychiatry.[2][3] He has a younger brother, Jack. His mother, who is Jewish, is originally from South Africa.[4][5]

Barnes made his feature film debut as Young Dunstan in 2007's Stardust, directed by Matthew Vaughn and based on the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name. Barnes then starred as a Russian hoodlum named Cobakka in Suzie Halewood's Bigga Than Ben, which was released in 2008 in the United Kingdom and other European countries.[12]

In February 2007, it was announced that Barnes would play the role of Caspian in the film adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, directed by Andrew Adamson.[13] Adamson said "Caspian is a coming of age and, to some degree, a loss of innocence story, with Caspian starting out quite naïve, then craving revenge and finally letting go of the vengeance."[14] While many readers interpret Caspian as a child, a passage in the novel mentions his age to be near that of Peter's, so an older actor was sought to match William Moseley. Barnes had read the novel as a child, and was cast in two-and-a-half weeks after meeting with the filmmakers. He spent two months in New Zealand horse riding and stunt training to prepare for shooting.[15] Barnes says his Mediterranean accent in the movie was inspired in part by Mandy Patinkin's performance as Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride.[16] Adamson did not expect to cast a British actor as Caspian, and said Barnes fit well into the surrogate family of Adamson and the four actors playing the Pevensies.[17]

In January 2010, Barnes began filming Killing Bono, a comedy based on the Neil McCormick memoir Killing Bono: I Was Bono's Doppelgänger, in which McCormick recounts his youth in Ireland as an aspiring rock star who is overshadowed by his friend Bono, the lead singer of U2.[25] Barnes played McCormick in Killing Bono, which is directed by Nick Hamm.[26] Filming started at the beginning of January in the city of Lisburn. Killing Bono was released on 1 April 2011, in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[27]

Barnes returned to the West End stage in London, with a starring role as World War I soldier Stephen Wraysford in Birdsong, a drama based on the Sebastian Faulks novel of the same title. The play, directed by Trevor Nunn and adapted for the West End stage by writer Rachel Wagstaff, began previews at the Comedy Theatre in London on 18 September 2010, and opened on 28 September 2010.[28][29] The play closed on 15 January 2011.[30] He was then cast alongside Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana in The Words. He played the younger version of Jeremy Irons character whose manuscript, based on his life in France, has been found by Bradley Cooper. The film opened to generally negative reviews from critics.[31]

In 2013 Barnes had one film released, The Big Wedding, a remake of the original 2006 French film Mon frère se marie (My brother is getting married). The movie starred an ensemble cast which included Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Katherine Heigl, Topher Grace, Amanda Seyfried, Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams.[32] He played Alejandro Griffin, the adopted son of Don Griffin (played by Robert De Niro) and Ellie Griffin (played by Diane Keaton), who is getting married to Melissa "Missy" O'Connor (played by Amanda Seyfried). He asks his divorced parents to get along for the duration of his marriage as his biological mother, Madonna Soto (Patricia Rae), believes divorce to be a sin. The movie release on the 26 April 2013 to largely negative reviews.[33] It currently holds a 7% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 101 reviews with the site's consensus stating that its 'all star cast is stranded in a contrived, strained plot that features broad stabs at humor but few laughs.'[33]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article ( Ben Barnes (actor) ); it is used under the
GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.